In April 2012, I wrote a column about the Abigail Fisher case, an affirmative-action lawsuit in which Fisher, a Anglo student from Sugar Land, sought admission to the University of Texas as an undergraduate. I wrote:
The ultimate question is not one of law. It’s one of politics: Does the court dare turn back the clock on minority advancement and squelch the aspirations of a new generation of young Americans?
I also made the point then that the weakness in the case for admitting Fisher to UT was not about whether she should be admitted because she had better grades than certain minority students. I believed then and I believe now that Fisher’s academic record, though solid, was not strong enough to guarantee automatic admission to the University of Texas in the first place. The U.S. Supreme Court should pay close attention to Fisher’s academic record as it debates whether to eliminate race as a consideration for acceptance at public universities.
